Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Prank Report: Knucklhead Alert In Illinois!

Police weren't laughing Monday over a supposed "senior prank" by a Peoria High School student they accused of showing up on campus wearing a ski mask.

Police were called and the school, 11200 N. 83rd Ave., was placed in lockdown for nearly 2 ½ hours as more than two dozen officers searched for intruder, fearing that the masked man possibly was armed.

The student, Zubair Hussaini, 18, was arrested in a nearby neighborhood after the masked man fled from the campus, said Mike Tellef, a Peoria police spokesman.

"He told the officers he was not armed and did this as a 'senior prank' after being dared by another student," Tellef said.

Hussaini was taken into custody and booked in a Maricopa County jail on charges of interfering with an educational institution and obstructing governmental operations, both misdemeanors, he said.

Police recovered a ski mask and yellow tee-shirt believed to have been worn by the intruder, but no weapon, Tellef said.

"This type of activity places the community and our officers at risk at it requires an emergency response," Tellef said.

Such a prank may seem harmless but could lead to "drastic consequences," not to mention the waste of resources that could have been put to better use, he said.

There was no indication what disciplinary action, if any, would be taken by the Peoria Unified School District.

Federal privacy laws prohibit any comment about that issue, said Jim Cummings, a school district spokesman.

The incident followed an arrest Friday by Glendale police of a student at Mountain Ridge High School, accused of trying to orchestrate a cafeteria food fight.

In this post-Columbine world, I'm amazed that anyone would even think that this type of "prank" would be even mildly amusing. Now as for that "cafeteria food fight..."

Update:(PM) Reader Jim B. emails that the incident occurred in Arizona, not Illinois as we reported. We apologize for mistating the facts.

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